Louis Armstrong: Extra Credit Assignment
Louis Armstrong was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans,
Louisiana. He was born on August 4th, 1901, and died on July 6th, 1971. His 70 years of legacy
can best be attributed to the 1920’s when he started to come to prominence as a cornet and
trumpet player. Armstrong was more than just influential in jazz—he was also an influential
singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song
for expressive purposes. In addition, Armstrong He was also greatly skilled at scat singing,
vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics. Armstrong was one of the first
truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross-over," whose skin-color was secondary to
his amazing talent in an America that was severely racially divided.
Armstrong was born into a very poor family in New Orleans, Louisiana, the grandson of
slaves. He spent his youth in poverty, in a rough neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans, known
as “Back of Town”, as his father, William Armstrong (1881–1922), abandoned the family when
Louis was an infant and took up with another woman. His mother, Mary "Mayann" Albert (1886–
1942), then left Louis and his younger sister Beatrice Armstrong Collins (1903–1987) in the care
of his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong, and at times, his Uncle Isaac. At five, he moved back
to live with his mother and her relatives, and saw his father only in parades.
On March 19, 1918, Louis married Daisy Parker from Gretna, Louisiana. They adopted a
3-year-old boy, Clarence Armstrong, whose mother, Louis's cousin Flora, died soon after giving
birth. Clarence Armstrong was mentally disabled (the result of a head injury at an early age) and
Louis would spend the rest of his life taking care of him. Louis's marriage to Parker failed quickly
and they separated. She died shortly after the divorce.
Armstrong died just after a heart attack on July 6, 1971, a month before his 70th
birthday, and 11 months after playing a famous show at the Waldorf-Astoria's Empire Room. He
was residing in Corona, Queens, New York City, at the time of his death. He was interred in
Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, in Queens, New York City.
Armstrong was a colorful character. His own biography vexes biographers and
historians, because he had a habit of telling tales, particularly of his early childhood, when he
was less scrutinized, and his embellishments of his history often lack consistency. He was not
only an entertainer. Armstrong was a leading personality of the day who was so beloved by a
white-controlled America that gave even the greatest African-American performers little access
beyond their public celebrity, that he was able to privately live a life of access and privilege
accorded to few other African-Americans. He tried to remain politically neutral, which gave him a
large part of that access, but often alienated him from members of the African-American
community who looked to him to use his prominence with white America to become more of an
outspoken figure during the Civil Rights Era of U.S. history.
Armstrong was able to pass into white society, both on stage and off, a privilege
reserved for very few African-American public figures, and usually those of either exceptional
talent, and fair skin-tone. As his fame grew, so did his access to the finer things in life usually
denied to a black man, even a famous one. His renown was such that he dined in the best
restaurants and stayed in hotels usually exclusively for whites. It was a power and privilege that
he enjoyed, although he was very careful not to flaunt it with fellow performers of color, and
privately, he shared what access that he could with friends and fellow musicians.
